COCLEAN Technology – a developer of indoor air purification systems has recently announced a 20 million yuan (about US$2.9 million) series A round of investment led by Zhen Fund.

Speaking on the investment, the Founder of Zhen Fund, Xu Xiaoping said, “COCLEAN’s air purification technology does not require any supply and is quite promising which is why we are supporting COCLEAN.”

This financing round also follows the six-months seed and angel financing round in 2015 which has managed to raise an amount close to 10 million yuan (about US$1.45 million).

Founded in February 2015, COCLEAN Technology with a registered capital of 242 million yuan (about US$35 million) focuses on the R&D of an air purifier, air ioniser, car air purifier, and other similar products. Its flagship product is the COCLEAN portable air purification device which has sold tens of thousands of units since its launch.

In 2016, the company also initiated a revolutionary COCLEAN intelligent air purification system for schools and other public places to provide air purification, monitoring, and analysis of the overall solution, making indoor air purification systems more cost=effective and energy efficient. At present, the system covers dozens of schools including Tsinghua University and nearly 100,000 square meters of public space.

Commenting on the fundraising, COCLEAN Technology Founder and CEO Zhao Fei said, “Air quality has become one of the important factors affecting our people’s happiness, how to provide personal purification, micro-environmental monitoring, and data analysis which forms the core loop solutions to improve the living environment are our top priority, therefore we are determined to develop COCLEAN.”

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

Ayannah, a digital payments startup based in the Philipines, is looking forward to securing at least US$5 million in its next financing round which is said to be completed by April 2017.

“We are in the middle of raising our next round. It was upsized to US$5 million because of a surge in investor interest. We aim to close by April 2017,” said Ayannah’s Founder and CEO Mikko Perez.

Founded in 2008, the financial technology firm provides digital commerce and payment services to migrants and overseas workers, especially those which are unbanked or underbanked via the operations of two main platforms – Sendah and Sendah Direct.

Sendah is a B2C platform that allows overseas Filipinos to send mobile top-ups, electronic vouchers as well as physical goods. While Sendah Direct is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that partners with brick-and-mortar retailers to offer services like mobile top-ups, online game credits, and domestic remittance.

“We are not trying to eliminate money transfers or remittances but we are giving migrants more options on how to support their beneficiaries in their home countries without necessarily infringing on the value proposition of money transfer operators,” Perez said.

In December 2015, Ayannah has raised US$1 million as part of its series A round led by Silicon Valley VC 500 Startups and Singapore-based fintech VC Life.SREDA, London-based fintech VC Blue Compass, and other investors.

The company also claims that its remittance business took off in the second half of 2016 where its revenue volume grew by 202x from July 2014 to December 2016.

Ayannah will use the newly raised capital to further grow its remittance business and launch their microinsurance and credit scoring business, as it plans to go for a public listing by late 2018.

“Our challenge,” said Perez, “is hiring more developers and channel sales people to ramp up product development and revenues. We are integrating with several partners all at the same time and we need to hire more energies just to work through the pipeline.”

“But I do think 2017 is the breakout year for Ayannah,” Perez adds. “We have prepared the foundation over the past three years and we are poised for the period of sustained growth.”

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

One Tap Buy, previously known as MyBanker has announced on 14 February that it has fundraised 1.5 billion yen (about US$13.3 million) from Mizuho Securities, existing investors Mizuho Capital, and Mobile Internet Capital.

This financing round follows a previous 1 billion yen funding from Softbank back in July 2016. Prior to that, the firm also raised an undisclosed sum from Mobile Internet Capital, DBJ Capital, and Mitsui Life Insurance’s Sansei Capital, as well as other undisclosed VC firms in June 2015.

Founded in October 2013, One Tap Buy develops a mobile application of the same name that specifically helps people manage their savings and investments more easily. The mobile application also facilitates the trade stocks of well-known brands and companies in units of 1000 yen.

One Tap Buy also just participated in the startup battle of TechCrunch Tokyo in 2015, winning the judges’ special prize and the AWS prize. After a one-year closed beta period, it was officially launched in June 2016, where it has acquired over 150,000 downloads o date, especially from users in their 20s and 30s, whereby 70 percent of them are inexperienced.

Additionally, the app also allows users to easily choose then buy US-listed stocks and Japanese exchange-traded funds rather than using conventional trading platforms.

With the latest capital raised, the company plans to accelerate the system development efforts for new services in addition to strengthening marketing efforts to increase the public awareness of the service.

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media

Chinese mobile game developer, ShineZone has recently raised a RMB400 million (about US$58 million) series B round participated by a number of Chinese investment firms.

The investor list includes Shenzhen-based China Fortune Securities, Bank of Ningbo, Ningbo-based Shanshan Venture Capital, Shanghai-based Jiuyou Fund, and Nord Engine Asset Management Group, as well as HT Venture Capital.

After this round of financing, ShineZone will have a rich network of strategic shareholders including earlier investors – Sina Weibo, Sequoia Capital, IDG, YF Capital, Sinovation Ventures, American Draper Fisher Juverston, International VCs and financial institutions.

Additionally, Shinezone also hopes to reach RMB200 million (about US$29 million) in net profits in 2017 with the hopes to go for an initial public offering (IPO) in the near future.

Founded in 2008 and based in Shanghai, Chinese game developer ShineZone develops and research mobile games mainly for the overseas market. At present, ShineZone has over 23 games covering 18 countries and regions, with a user base consisting of hundreds of million players.

The company has also formed strategic partnerships with Facebook, App Store, Google Play, Armor Games, Sina and other international social and gaming platforms. Its portfolio of games including “The King of Towers”, “Flower Shop”, “Dessert Shop”, “Viking Age” and others.

“There are three things to be completed in 2017 for ShineZone,” said the Chairman and CEO of ShineZone Li HuiLang. “First, we need to further expand our global distribution network, to acquire domestic talent and CP team to create the best gaming experience. Second, to carry out overseas M&A, to build a bridgehead in the targeted market in order to have a direct grasp on overseas R&D and distribution channels.”

“Lastly, we also aim to reach RMB200 million net profits in 2017 and initiate our plan for IPO. In fact, ShineZone in the last three years has grown tremendously, doubling its performance in three consecutive years,” Li HuiLang further adds.

By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media